On the morning of December 24, amidst the silver-clad, frozen expanse of Jingpohu, the opening ceremony of the 2nd China Jingpohu Lake International Winter Swimming Challenge, part of the 10th National Public Ice and Snow Season 2023-2024 "Enjoying Ice and Snow" series activities in Heilongjiang Province, was successfully held. The event was hosted by the Heilongjiang Provincial Sports Bureau and the Mudanjiang Municipal Government, and organized by the Heilongjiang Jingpohu Lake Management Committee and the Mudanjiang Municipal Sports Bureau.

After the opening ceremony, with the crack of the starting gun, the athletes leaped into Heilongtan like fish diving into water, charging forward with unwavering determination amid the waves. Nearly 500 winter swimmers from across the country engaged in fierce competition at the Jingpohu Lake Diaoshuilou Waterfall venue. In winter, the Diaoshuilou Waterfall hangs like a beaded curtain, glistening under the sunlight as if it were a dreamy wonderland straight out of a frozen fairy tale.

Mudanjiang is an outstanding tourist city in China and one of China's top ten ice and snow tourism cities, renowned for its high-quality tourism resources such as Jingpohu—the world's largest volcanic lava barrier lake—and the enchanting China Snow Town, celebrated for its winter charm. In winter, Mudanjiang not only boasts excellent ice and snow tourism resources but also has a strong foundation for winter sports, particularly a long-standing tradition of winter swimming. The recently held "Enjoy Ice and Snow" series of events in Heilongjiang for the 2023-2024 National Mass Ice and Snow Season and the International Winter Swimming Challenge at Jingpohu Lake fully leveraged the lake’s advantages as a "big ice rink," "big snowfield," "big ice waterfall," and "big fishing ground." By designing diverse ice and snow tourism products and organizing popular ice and snow competitions, the event aimed to create a comprehensive platform for public fitness, further promoting the integration of ice and snow sports, culture, and tourism, while enhancing the influence of Mudanjiang's ice and snow tourism brand.

It is reported that in recent years, the Jingpohu Lake Scenic Area has leveraged its unique natural resources to successfully incubate a series of "tourism + sports" events, organizing and hosting multiple national and provincial-level large-scale ice and snow sports competitions. It has successfully established a sports tourism demonstration brand. In December 2022, Jingpohu Lake was awarded the title of "National Sports Tourism Demonstration Base" by the General Administration of Sport of China and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. This year, it successfully hosted the "China Scenic Area Sustainable Development Forum and the Conference on Integrated Development of Culture, Sports, and Tourism," while also securing the hosting rights for multiple sports events from national and provincial sports bureaus once again.

As one of the Heilongjiang branch venues for the National Public Ice and Snow Day launch ceremony, Jingpohu Lake Scenic Area kicked off the 2023-2024 "Enjoy Ice and Snow" activities in Heilongjiang with the hosting of the 2nd China Jingpohu Lake International Winter Swimming Challenge, officially marking the start of Jingpohu's winter ice and snow sports tourism. Over the course of a month, Jingpohu Lake will also host a series of events including a snowfield hiking competition, ice dragon boat challenge, youth snow football tournament, ice marathon, middle school student winter camp, national youth winter camp, and ice car testing and challenge. "Boiling Ice and Snow Season, Enjoy Jingpohu"—this winter at Jingpohu Lake is both "hot snow" and沸腾.（Zhao Huying Zhang Shuyong)